How A Data Scientist Who’d Never Heard Of Basketball Mastered March Madness

A 13-year-old in Illinois. A 47-year-old English woman. A 70-year-old Vegas oddsmaker. At first blush, there isn’t much linking them. But last year, all three were among the most successful March Madness prognosticators. That’s where the similarities end.

With methods ranging from gut instinct to computational learning theory, these three characters demonstrate just how wide and varied the spectrum of strategies can be. But which strategy will you employ for your own bracket? Watch this video collaboration between FiveThirtyEight and Fictionless and decide for yourself.